Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) to a sell rating in a research report released on Thursday morning.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus restated a buy rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 15th. Raymond James reaffirmed a strong-buy rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. They issued a buy rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $111.56.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $53.01 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $63.37 and its 200 day moving average is $51.48. Viking Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $8.28 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.85 billion, a PE ratio of -57.00 and a beta of 1.04.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total transaction of $4,986,005.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 174,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,059,845.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total transaction of $4,986,005.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 174,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,059,845.26. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total value of $22,136,890.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 348,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,413,639.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth $239,000. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth $1,889,000. Artal Group S.A. purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at about $20,817,000. Comerica Bank raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 28,154.0% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 91,543 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,507,000 after buying an additional 91,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castleark Management LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at about $4,566,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Viking Therapeutics

Viking Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of novel therapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders. The company's lead drug candidate is VK2809, an orally available tissue and receptor-subtype selective agonist of the thyroid hormone receptor beta (TRß), which is in Phase IIb clinical trials to treat patients with biopsy-confirmed non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, as well as NAFLD.